


On the Job Injury

by Lastwaterbender



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Claire listened to Owen, F/M, IRex thing didn't happen, The one where she punches Hoskins in the face
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2016-01-21
Packaged: 2018-04-19 16:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4752392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lastwaterbender/pseuds/Lastwaterbender
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Owen gets hurt on the job. The events of JW were very different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Today was a meeting after meeting kind of day.

Claire’s head was starting to ache. Trying to keep a smile on her face while she was forced to sit in investors meetings, all of whom didn’t know how to handle that she was a woman. Most flippant comments were offensive, but she brushed them aside in her own crass remarks and eventually sold the deal. She was grateful that today’s investors weren’t as grabby as the last bunch.

It was near three when she made it into the control room, it was bustling like normal. Live count on the board was over twenty three thousand people. “How is everything going?” She asked as she stopped between Vivian and Lowery.

Lowery looked up at her. “Six missing children, twelve down in medical for heat stroke. For how busy we are, it’s kind of a slow day.”

“We haven’t had any issues with any of the paddocks today.” She reported.

Claire squared her shoulders as she watched the screen. The videos jumped from different cameras in the park showing different people and families having the time of their lives. It stopped for a moment on the Mosasaur jump for its feeding time show and splash back into the water before jumping to the next camera at the petting zoo that was filled with children.

The phone rang on the desk. “Spoke too soon.” Mumbled Lowery as Vivian picked up the line into her ear piece.

“Control Room.” She said before her face fell.  She started to type quickly onto the computer. “I’m dispatching an ambulance right now, Barry. Are the assets contained? Do I need to dispatch ACU?”

“What’s happening?” Claire asked, worry filled her face. Barry meant the Velociraptor Paddock, which meant Owen. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as she waited for Vivian to get more information.

Vivian placed a hand over the mouth piece. “Incident at the Raptor Paddock.” She whispered and Claire’s heart stopped beating for a few moment. “Owen Grady…”

Claire didn’t even listen to the rest as she turned on her heels and ran out of the control room. “She’s totally doing him.” Commented Lowery, gaining a punch to the arm from Vivian. It followed with a glare that shut him up and he returned to his screen.

“Barry, I just received confirmation from the ambulance dispatch, they are one their way.” She said into the headset. “Claire is on her way too, how is he?”

/

She drove as fast as the car would go.

Why did the raptor paddock have to be so far away from everything? She was thankful that the path that she was one, though not the smoothest, was empty and away from the crowds and not the road the ambulance would take to get there.

She prayed that he was okay. He wouldn’t have allowed them to call an ambulance if it wasn’t bad. A million and one thoughts ran through her head, Was it one of the raptors? Did they have to put down one of his raptors? Was something wrong with the paddock?

More importantly, was Owen okay? Would he be okay? He would come down on himself hard if something happened to one of them.

She shook her head, not allowing herself to jump to conclusions as the paddock finally came into view. The ambulance had yet to arrive and people seemed to be running in all directions setting what was inside the paddock.

Slamming in the breaks, she put the car into park and climbed out of the car and ran towards a small group of people outside the paddock. She could hear Owen yelling in a mixture of pain and anger as she trotted closer. He was sitting on the ground with his arm and shoulder covered in bloody bandages and Barry trying to calm him. “Owen!” She shouted.

“Claire? You called Claire?” He asked Barry as if he was accusing him of betrayal.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Hoskins nursing his own wounds in the corner with a random InGen person fretting over him. “I didn’t call her, she was in the control room when I called for an ambulance.” He defended himself as she reached them.

Her eyes scanned him for further injuries and Owen’s face softened. “What happened?” She asked bandage on his forearm was bleeding through. She reached into the first aid kit for another wrap and started to work on it, trying to not panic by how much blood was all over him and now on her, praying that the brachial artery was still intact.

“That fucker over there!” Owen roared and motioning to Hoskins with his freehand pulling away from her. Claire placed her hands on his face to still him, he was hot and feverish. “You’ve got to get him off this island Claire… They had to tranquilize Echo, I will lose everything I’ve ever done with them… ”

“Shh.” She whispered softly, to bring his voice down. “I won’t let anything happen to her, but you need to calm down.” She turned away from him to look at Barry. “Get me a blanket or a coat or something and the emergency oxygen tank, he’s in shock.”

Barry nodded and ran inside the office. “I’m fine! I need to check on Echo.” Owen snapped and brushed her hands away from him as he struggled to get up. He yelped in pain as he placed weight on the side that was hurt, something clearly broken in his arm. He ripped the binding at his shoulder and she could see the teeth marks that were buried deep inside.

“Owen.” She said evenly, pressing more gauze to his shoulder. “You’re losing a lot of blood right now and I need you to sit still before I make you sit still.”

A humorless chuckle escaped his lips as she helped him lay back down and allowed her to place the oxygen mask onto his face. He trembled slightly as Barry returned with a blanket and covered him with it. Owen’s adrenaline was running out and soon he would realize just how much pain he was in. His skin was growing more and more pale, but they could hear the siren get closer. “Please don’t let anybody touch Echo, it wasn’t her fault …” He pleaded as she placed the oxygen mask on his face.

“Shh.” She soothed again, running her fingers through his hair. “I promise.” The ambulance pulled up and the paramedics soon surrounded them. Claire stepped away to allow them to work on Owen and crossed her arms tightly to her chest to hide the blood on them and looked up at Barry. “What happened Barry?”

He sighed. “We had them in the harnesses, when Hoskins showed up.” He started as they watched the paramedics place an IV in Owen’s good arm. “Echo was already on edge today and Owen was trying to calm her down when Hoskins poked her on the soft spot of her nose. She nipped him in the elbow and when he turned around to pull away, he elbowed her in the same spot and she tossed her harness. He tried to grab her in order to calm her down…” Hoskins was yelling from fifty yards away about a lawsuit and how Owen pushed him into the raptor.

Claire glared at him before looking back at Barry. “She couldn’t escape, but her head was completely free.” Explained Barry with a heavy sigh it all happened in the blink of an eye. “She was biting whatever she could sink her teeth in to, she got Hoskins, but barely and Owen shoved him out of the way so that Echo could not get his jugular and she got him and wouldn’t let go before I was able to get a tranquilizer into her.”

She held up on finger to stop him and with fire in her eyes trotted over to Hoskins. “You will leave this area and not come back.” She started with her hands on her hips, making herself look taller. “I will not have you endangering staff and assets…”

Hoskins glared at her and got into her space. “And who do you think you are, doll? You think you know anything about these raptors because you’re fucking the head trainer, but you know nothing. These ‘assets’ maybe Jurassic World property, but it is run by InGen employees. I’m going to start with replacing employees… “

“You can’t do that.” She growled. The balance between InGen and the Masrani Corporation was delicate on a good day and should InGen fire its staff, it would tip the scales. She would make it tip the scale, she was done hearing Owen complain about InGen’s incessant meddling in his work and he was the reason that Owen was injured.

“We can take this up with Masrani right now doll, this is an InGen project…” He stopped talking when her fist collided with his nose. He doubled over and covered his now bleeding nose. “You bitch!” He said, muffled by his hands. “I’ll have your head for this…” He was pulled away from the area by his meek looking minion who pressed a cloth to his nose.

She took a heavy breath, turned on her heels and walked back to a very surprised looking Barry. “I’ve been meaning to do that for ages.” She said rubbing her hand before growing somber again. “Where is Echo now?” She asked.

“In confinement. We are able to close off the harness area to separate it from the rest of the paddock.” He explained. “The other three are in the paddock and they are upset, they know something happened to Echo and won’t leave until she does.”

“We will have to have her looked over by the veterinary staff before we can release her back to her pack to make sure that she’s okay.” Claire said, spouting off protocol and Barry nodded. Owen yelped out in pain and started swatting at the helping hands around him.

“His heart rate and BP is climbing.” Shouted a paramedic as he pushed tried to subdue Owen. Claire squeezed through the crowd of paramedics and fell to her knees at his side.

She took his good hand in hers, mindful of the IV’s that stuck out of her arm in hopes of calming him down. “Owen.” She said and eventually his eyes turned to look at him and he stopped struggling. “I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Heart rate is back to normal.” Said the medic, before looking at her. “We need to get him to the hospital.”  

Claire nodded as they lifted Owen onto the stretcher and she followed, not letting go of his hand. She was yelling instructions to Barry as she was being loaded with Owen into the cab of the ambulance. “Call the Control Room and have them send the first available vet to check her over, call Mr. Masrani…” The door shut in her face and drive down the road leaving a stunned Barry in her wake.

/

She sat in the waiting room trying to wash out the thoughts of how pale Owen was as they took him back to surgery.

It had been hours since she sat down and her phone had long since died. Barry had arrived, driving her car, not long ago and soon fell asleep on the small love seat in the corner. She stood up to stretch her legs and did a lap around the waiting room. The LED clock on the wall was blinking that it neared ten pm, the park had closed almost two hours ago.  

She pulled on the leg of the set of scrubs she was given because her clothes had blood stains all over, and wished for nothing more than some Starbucks. But she wasn’t going to leave, not until she was forced to and even then she would sit on the curb until he left. She sighed as she sat back down again, being in a new relationship was exhausting.

Sure they had had their disastrous date not six months ago, but he had really helped her out of a bind a few weeks ago regarding their new asset. Mr. Masrani had wanted his opinion on the enclosure and when he arrived, the Indominous Rex seemed to be missing. She wasn’t, she was able to hide her geothermal radiation from the camera. He had them release a live animal instead of using the crane and sure enough it was temptation to come out from hiding.

Had they had gone down into the paddock, who knows what havoc that beast would ensue. His recommendation was to enclose it, electrify it and make it bigger. He pressed Claire into finding out what the beast was made of and she immediately launched a formal inquiry into the matter while making the necessary arrangements for the paddock. It pushed back the opening date significantly, but it made the exhibit more safe and Mr. Masrani agreed. Spare no expense.

It was then that that she had realized that she hadn’t heard from her nephews in a few hours and her assistant wasn’t answering her phone that Owen had stepped up to help her find them.

Zach had called her and explained that they had gotten lost in Gallimimus Valley in one of the gyrospheres. The sphere had become wedged between two trees after being bumped by a stampede of Triceratops. Owen sped through the valley in one of the jeeps and helped free them from the sphere as Claire arranged for the equipment to be fixed. They drove back to the park and the boys had invited Owen to join them for dinner in the park. He accepted their offer and ended up spending the entire evening with Claire and the boys. It was late when they headed back towards the hotel, Owen ended up carrying a sleeping Gray back.  

Once the boys were put to bed, she had walked him to the door of her apartment. “Thank you for saving me today.” She said softly, placing a hand on her arm. “My nephews had a good time with you tonight.”

He smiled, his hand finding its way to the curve of her waist. “I had a great time with them as well, they are really lucky to have you for their aunt.” He said. “I had an even better time with you, Claire.” Then to her surprise he kissed her. Her eyes widened and then closed before he broke away, keeping it simple knowing that her nephews were close by. “We should do this again some time.”

She flushed. “Okay.” She answered.

“Tomorrow maybe?” He offered and she looked up at him with a raised brow, she had her nephews for three more days and didn’t want to miss out with them, but his smile threw her off. “Bring the boys to the paddock tomorrow and I will show them around.”

“It’s a date.”

Claire remembered the day fondly, her nephews were absolutely in love with Owen. He introduced them to his girls and showed them how he trained with them. He even allowed them to feed the raptors, harnessed them and let them pet each of them.

“Your boyfriend is a badass.” Zach had said to her as Owen showed Gray how he could tell each of them apart. Claire blushed madly as Gray decided that Echo was his favorite.

The next day, the boys spent time at Owen’s bungalow playing Xbox while Claire dealt with the I-Rex and when she had returned to pick them up, the table was set for the two of them out on the patio. The boys had wanted to do something special for Claire to thank her for allowing them to visit and for introducing them to Owen, Zach had the idea to give them somewhat of a date.

Owen cooked dinner and the boys sat the table, fairy lights lit up his patio. “You’re not wearing board shorts.” She teased with a smile.

“I did print off an itinerary if you want it.” He teased back as he pulled out her chair for her.

“Whose idea was this?” She asked, she could see both Zach and Gray peeking through the window. Zach ducked away and Gray waved with his big smile before being pulled away by Zach.

“Theirs.” He answered, pushing her chair in.

Dinner was filled with laughter and when it was time for dessert, the boys joined them on the patio.

It was late when they loaded up into her car and both Claire and Owen stood by the driver’s door. “Thank you.” She whispered and stood up on her toes to kiss him softly, there was gagging noises from inside the car. He chuckled, said his goodbyes and watched as she drove back towards her apartment.

He took the time off to go with Claire to see the boys off at the airport, promising the boys that he would come visit them when there wasn’t snow in Wisconsin.

Their way back to the island they couldn’t keep their hands off each other and spent the night in her bed consummating their relationship and had been that way since.

“Miss Dearing.” Said a voice from the door interrupting her thoughts, she jumped back up to her feet, Barry did the same thing and stood next to her.

“How is he?” She asked, her hand reaching for Barry’s.

The doctor pulled off his hair cover tiredly. “He came through surgery okay, depleted our blood bank, but he’ll pull through.” He reported and Claire turned to Barry and was swallowed up into his arms in relief.

“Can we see him?” She asked after her moment of celebration.

The doctor nodded. “He probably won’t wake up for awhile, but you can sit with him.” He said and motioned for him to follow.

They reached his room and her heart stopped. He looked so pale under the harsh lighting, his right side was completely bandaged from fingertip to right below his neck. She stopped listening to what the doctor said as she stepped closer to him, taking his left hand in between hers. A chair found a place behind her knees and she sat down right next to him.

“Surprisingly the only thing he broke was his wrist, must’ve been when he fell back from the raptor.” The doctor said looking up from the chart. “The raptor only got the flesh and muscles, we had to reattach at the shoulder ligaments, but with some therapy he should regain full range of motion. He did lose a lot of blood, but it wasn’t from the brachial artery and if it was we would be having a very different conversation.”

“Thank you.” She said quietly before turning her attention back to Owen, he chest rose and fell silently, a breathing tube hanging from his nose.

Barry took the seat in the corner and almost immediately dozed off again. Claire reached up and brushed the hair that settled on his forehead, it was still damp from someone washing the blood out of it. She stood up and pressed her lips to his unmoving ones.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, it was relief. He was going to be okay. She sat back down and held his hand to her cheek and allowed herself to silently cry.

She cried herself to sleep.

/

Owen slowly became aware that he wasn’t in his own bedroom.

He felt heavy.

His eyes opened and he looked around the room in panic. It was Barry who stood up and came to his side that he realized that he was okay, messed up, but okay. “Hey, it’s okay.” Barry whispered. “You’re okay, do you know what happened?”

He blinked a couple of times, his mind foggy. “Echo?” He asked when his eyes shot open again.

“Shh. She’s okay.” He said quietly and motioned to the sleeping redhead that held his other hand. Her face rested on her the arm that held his hand, looking away from him. Her breathing was soft and slow, she was still asleep. “We had Echo checked out by the vet, who signed off that she was okay. All four of them are okay. Claire made sure of that.”

He closed his eyes for a moment and waited for the fog to clear. “Claire?” He asked, he was asking if she was okay and Barry nodded.

Owen squeezed his hand and she jumped back startled. “Owen?” She asked confused until she realized that it was him that squeezed her hand and that he was awake. “Thank god you’re awake.”

She stood up and looked torn between hugging him so that it didn’t hurt him and bursting into tears. Owen held out his free arm. “Come here.” He said and she crawled into the bed on his good side, burying her face into the side of his neck as she started to cry again. “I’m okay.”

“I’m so glad you’re okay.” She mumbled into his neck. He used his good hand to run a hand through her hair to sooth her. Barry took his cue to go find a doctor to tell them that he was awake.

Their moment was cut short by the doctor and a hoard of nurses bustled in and Claire got off the bed, Owen found that he missed her warmth. He watched as she wrapped her arms around herself and forced herself to not cry from the corner.

“Mr. Grady, how are you feeling this morning?” He asked, Owen looked at the LED clock over the doctor’s shoulder, it was almost two in the morning.

He answered and Claire excused herself to the restroom. The mirror showed the deep bags under her eyes from her runny makeup and she nearly gasped. She ran the water and washed away the day old makeup and pulled her hair up into a pony tail, the one given to her by a nurse.

When she returned to the room, Owen was alone and laying on his good side. He had probably sent Barry home to get some sleep before dealing with the girls by himself. “Are you okay?” He asked worriedly.

She clasped her hands together as she moved to sit next to him on the bed. “You’re the one in the hospital bed.” She started and he dropped his brow. “I’m fine, I just needed to wash my face. What did the doctor say?”

He shrugged and then winced. “Too many stitches to count.” He said shifting to get comfortable. “Wrist will be in a hard cast for six to eight weeks. Therapy, lots and lots of physical therapy.”

Her eyebrow raised at his sarcasm and knew that come time for therapy, he was going to be insufferable. “You know you won’t get full clearance to work if you don’t do therapy, right?”

He groaned and rubbed his eyes. “It’s a good thing I have it in with the boss.” He said as his flirty smile came to his face. She rolled her eyes, of course he would be one of those people who went loopy with pain medications.

“It’s not the boss you have to have an in with.” She responded, his good hand went to her thigh and gave it a weak squeeze. He was getting tired, the doctor must have given him some medication while she was in the bathroom. “You have to have an in with the doctor.”

He laughed. “I guess I will have to take him out on a date when I get out of here.” He said.

“Only if you wear your board shorts, Owen.” She said as she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips, when she pulled back she ruffled his hair. “Get some sleep.”

She stood up to go sit in the chair in the corner, but he caught her arm. “Please stay.” He said, she couldn’t deny his puppy dog eyes that was begging her to climb into the bed. She complied and carefully climbed into bed with him, she pressed her back carefully into his chest and rested her head on the pillow, his bottom arm holding her against him. “Thank you.”

She pulled the blanket over both of them and settled against him. “No problem.” She answered with a yawn.

“No, for making taking care of Echo.” He answered kissing her neck. He kissed her ear this time. “For loving me.” It was just above a whisper followed by a sigh.

She smiled into the pillow knowing that he had fallen asleep. Figures that he would confess his love to her and then fall asleep.

With a heavy sigh, she too fell asleep against him.

/

Zara carried the spare coffee from Starbucks in her left hand, a duffle bag with a change of clothes from Claire’s apartment, and the thick folder from her desk under her arm as she walked the path into the hospital as Barry trotted up to grab the door for her. “Thank you and good morning, Barry.” She said brightly as she pushed her sunglasses up.

“Good morning Zara.” He greeted.

The pair chitchatted about Zara’s upcoming nuptials that were only six more weeks away while they shared the elevator ride to Owen’s room. When they reached the third floor, Barry stopped to check in with the nurse as Zara walked into the room that Claire had texted to her and she immediately stopped in the doorway.

Claire and Owen were asleep in the hospital bed. Owen was not really sleeping on his side, but more on his back with his heavily bandaged arm resting on his side. His good arm was under Claire’s head and tucked around her tightly his hand resting under her chin, her hair moved with each breath that he took. She was completely spooned up against him, her hand resting in her hair.

Zara didn’t know how long Barry stood behind her, but at the first indication that he was behind her, she shoved everything that was in her hand into his arms and pulled out her phone. She snapped a couple of pictures, quickly edited out the crappy hospital lighting on Instagram. “She’s going to feed you to the T-Rex.” Barry commented as he watch her caption the photo AWWWWWW!!! <3 <3 God how precious is @ClaireDearing and @AlphaOwen this morning? #TrueLove #Cute #dontworryhewillbeokay #Velociraptor #nofilter #cutecouple #instacouple #instamorning

Zara looked up at him and shrugged, posting it on every form of social media as possible. She looked at her handy work and smiled, she should’ve gone into photography. She turned to grab one cup of coffee, the duffle bag and the folder and quietly set it on small table against the wall and reached inside the bag for the long phone charging cable. She carefully grabbed Claire’s phone that rested on the bed, knowing full well that it was dead.

Barry couldn’t see what she was doing with Claire’s phone and he prayed that she would survive Claire’s wrath when she found out.

Zara put Claire’s phone down and turned on her heels, Barry followed her. “What did you do?” He asked as they headed back to the elevator.

“Changed her wallpaper.” She answered with a shrug and looked down at her phone. The photo already had 37 likes and comments on Instagram.

He looked at her wide eyed. “You have a death wish!” He said as the elevator opened and they both stepped inside. Barry dealt with Velociraptors on a daily basis, but was scared of Claire and Zara found it amusing. She shrugged and took a sip from her own coffee.


	2. Chapter 2

Claire woke up to the sound of her phone vibrating.

Her eyes opened slowly and she saw that her phone was on the table charging next to a cup of coffee. She carefully sat up, careful to not wake Owen. His years in the military had made him a very light sleeper and she hoped the drugs would keep him asleep a little longer. She padded across the linoleum barefoot and reached for the cup that was still hot. She took a sip and it was just how she loved it.

Next to it was her duffle bag, now doubt with a change of clothes inside. Thank god for Zara. She picked up the phone and nearly choked on her coffee. She had four miss calls from Karen, three texts from Zach, five missed calls from Mr. Masrani and nine from Hoskins.

She really, really didn’t want to deal with Hoskins, so she started with the texts from Zach. She swiped the screen and it immediately opened to his message. _What happened to Owen????_ The first one said followed by _Is he okay?_ And a _Gray want’s to know if the Raptors are okay._

Claire frowned, she hadn’t called her family about what had happened to Owen. How did they know?

She swiped the menu down and saw that her Facebook page indicated that she was tagged in something and also that there was a conversation on it. She padded over back to the bed and sat down, Owen didn’t stir. When the page loaded, she choked on her coffee and that woke Owen.

He jumped, his hand going to her waist. “What’s wrong?” He slurred, trying to grasp his bearings.

She turned the phone around to show the picture of the both of them. “Zara stopped by this morning and posted this.” He took the phone from her and struggled through the drug haze to comprehend what was on it and it took a couple of blinks before he smiled.

“Look we’ve already got a bunch of likes.” He teased, rolling onto his back stiffly.

She took her phone back and gave him a soft glare. “My sister has called me four times. . .” Her phone rang and sure enough Karen’s name popped up on the screen. “There she is again.”

His laughter followed her out of the room and she smiled at the doctor who nodded his hello as he went into the room. “Hello?”

“Claire! Thank god!” Karen said into the phone. “Are you okay? What happened to Owen? Is he okay? Why didn’t you. . .”

“Karen!” She snapped after a moment of being bombarded by questions. “Owen will be okay, he was in surgery until after midnight and I haven’t had a chance to call anybody.”

Her sister let out a breath to calm herself. She hadn’t yet met the man who made such an impression on her boys and his sister, but had talked to him when Claire had skyped Gray to wish him a happy birthday. Owen had sent Gray a book about Velociraptors and also threw in some classic video games for Zach that they had bonded over while they stayed at his bungalow.

“What happened?” She asked after she calmed down.

Claire turned to look at Owen who was talking to the doctor. “Please don’t tell the boys, but he was bit.” She said with a heavy sigh. “It’s a long story, but it was an accident. The doctors repaired his shoulder and set his wrist back into place, with some therapy he should regain his full range of motion.”

“Was it the raptor?” She asked and Claire rolled her eyes. “Or was it something else? Those monsters. . .”

“Karen they aren’t monsters, they’re dinosaurs.” She corrected. “Yes, he was bit by one of the Velociraptors, but it wasn’t either of their fault. He was trying to deescalate a situation regarding a contract employee when she got him.”

“If you say so.” Karen said. “I’m glad that he’s alright. That picture is cute by the way, he’s good for you. . .”

“Bye Karen.” Claire started and moved to end the call when Karen shouted into the phone. “I’m done talking about this, I love you, tell the boys that he’s okay and I will call later...” She ended it and leaned against the wall for a moment, looking at her phone and realized that he wallpaper had been changed to the picture that Zara had posted. She bit her lip to hide her smile before returning to the room, she would call Mr. Masrani later.

“. . . I’m going to go get supplies to open these bandages and see what’s happening. What color would you like your hard cast to be?”

Owen looked at Claire, giving the choice to her. “Purple.” She answered as she took her seat in the chair next to Owen.

“Purple it is.” He said with a smile. “As I was telling Owen, if things look good and he promises to wear his sling, take his meds and do the physical therapy he can go home in a couple of days as long as he has someone to stay with him.”

She nodded and reached over to take his hand in hers. “I will keep an eye on him.” She said and he gave her a small but playful glare. “I will arrange my schedule to make sure that he gets to where he needs to be.”

He nodded. “Good.” The doctor said with a smile. “She’s too good for you Owen.”

Owen’s pout turned into his bright smile. “Don’t I know it.” He answered with a squeeze of his hand.

“Let me go get those supplies and I will have someone from therapy come talk with you.” He said and disappeared through the door.

He looked up at her and motioned for her to sit with him on the bed. “How is your sister?”

“Concerned for you, she saw the picture that Zara posted. . .” She answered as she got up to sit on the bed with him. She slid down the bed and rested her head against his shoulder. He shifted and hissed as he readjusted his heavy arm. She sat up looking at him in concern and moved to get up.

He shook his head and released the breath that he was holding. “I’m okay, he just gave me something for the pain and it hasn’t kicked in yet.” He said and she settled back down next to him.

Her phone rang and she looked at the screen, it was Mr. Masrani and she couldn’t avoid him forever. She looked up at Owen, who looked at her expectantly. She answered the phone with her stomach in knots, she knew that Hoskins got to him before she was able to explain what had happened. “Mr. Masrani, hi!” She said with fake enthusiasm.

“You have created a storm over here, Claire.” He said without greeting. “I’ve got Hoskins here on speaker phone with his lawyer. . .”

She cringed. “I’m sorry, Simon.” She said before growing angry. “Actually I’m not sorry. Hoskins’ made the environment unsafe for the employees who work there and as a result, Owen Grady was bit by one of the Velociraptors.”

“Owen Grady isn’t employed by Jurassic World, Prissy Pants.” Said Hoskins on the line. “His own negligence caused this to happen. . .”

“What?” She interrupted, she was seeing red. If she was there, she would have pressed her fist right back into the side of his face. “Owen Grady is the reason you are still alive, Mr. Hoskins and I highly suggest you stick with my name from now on.”

“Is that the kind of hogwash that he’s feeding you, Princess?” He ignored her request with a sarcastic laugh.

“Mr. Hoskins.” Warned Mr. Masrani and it stilled his laugh. “Claire, my hands are tied regarding the policy, you are suspended pending the investigation.”

“That’s bullshit!” Cried Owen, overhearing her conversation. He shifted in the bed as if he was going to climb out and deal with Hoskins himself before crying out in pain. “Ah! Fuck.”

Claire jumped off the bed and looked at him with concern. “Owen! Please.” She cried and placed a hand on his shoulder to still him. He looked up at her with a mixture of anger and worry before he took a few deep breaths.

“Put me on speaker phone.” He demanded softly and Claire complied. “Mr. Masrani, you can’t discipline Claire for my mistake. . .”

They could hear Hoskins say ‘Ha! See!’ in the background and Mr. Masrani hushed him. “Mr. Grady, Claire cannot just punch people in the face because she disagrees with them. I can spout of pages of policy. . .” Owen looked at Claire wide eyed, Claire had left out that tidbit of information. She flushed almost sheepishly under his gaze.

“You failed to tell me that.” Owen said before his face broke out into the biggest smile that she had ever seen. His good arm went around her shoulders and press her into his good side. “I’m so proud of you!” He pressed his lips to hers in a sloppy kiss that caught her off guard.

“Hey!” Hoskins cried into the phone. “I would watch it, Owen. Your employment with InGen is on the rocks as it is. . .”

“You can go fuck yourself, Hoskins.” Owen said happily, he can live with the fact that he was going to be jobless now that he knew that Claire had done the one thing that he had wanted to do. He kissed her again happily.

Hoskins started to roar in the background about having him fired and thrown in jail. They could hear Simon Masrani ask someone to escort him out of his office. “Claire?” He asked in a quiet voice.

“I’m still here.” She said, her heart thumping in her ears.

“Claire, please understand that I’m only taking this route is because I need you away from here while things play out.” He explained quietly. He was going to deal with Hoskins in a way that was favorable for everybody. “And Owen, do not worry about your employment with InGen. As it so happens that one of our assets caused your injuries, the medical costs will be covered by the Masrani Corporation. We would also be pleased to offer you a position within our company as head of our new Velociraptor department as Senior Raptor Specialist with a significant pay increase, should you accept.”

“Wow! Thank you Mr. Masrani” He said with a big smile on his face, solved that problem. “What about the others?”

“They will also be offered positions within my company.” He said, Claire could hear the smile in his voice.

“Thank you, Mr. Masrani. I appreciate it!” He gushed happily.

“Claire, you make sure that you take excellent care of our newest employee.” He said with laughter in his voice.

She flushed. “I will.” She said.

“Cute picture of the two of you by the way.” She hung up the phone slightly mortified and released the breath that she was holding. She knew that she would have repercussions against punching Hoskins in the face, but it turned out to be the small stone to get the ball rolling. She leaned back and closed her eyes breathing in deeply to get the mixture of feelings that swirled around her.

When she opened them again, Owen was looking down at her. “You’re amazing, you know that?” He said pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

“You must be on some heavy drugs, Owen.” She answered.

“What?!” He cried sitting up slightly to look at her, before he winced in pain. “You punched Hoskins and you didn’t tell me! That makes you a hero in my book.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I haven’t really had a chance to tell you. . .” She said as he kissed her once again to silence her. She granted him this moment before resting a hand on his chest to stop him. “Down boy.”

He pouted his lips as the doctor came back in. “I apologize, I got pulled away for a quick consult.” He said setting the supplies on the small table.

“I’m going to go change.” Claire whispered to him as she got up out of the bed as the doctor washed his hands and began to assist Owen out of his gown.

When she returned, all that was left on Owens arm were large, soggy gauze pads that had healed into the wounds. She nearly gagged at the smell, but took a seat next to Owen anyway. The sound of the pad being removed was enough to make a lesser person sick, but she watched the doctor for a reaction.

“These actually look really good.” He commented and she stood up to get a better look, she really didn’t get a good look at it the day before because his shoulder was covered in blood. Eighteen of the twenty-eight teeth marked his shoulder on the front and back, plus the scar from where they repaired his shoulder. His wrist was purple and bruised, looking shriveled from the night spent wrapped up tightly. She hadn’t been sure how many times he was bitten, but from the look of his wounds, thankfully it had only been only once.

He put some more cream stuff onto each of the repaired cuts before taping each of them up again before moving to his wrist that he set back into place, leaving Claire weak kneed and having to sit back down. Owen didn’t feel a thing, the doctor must have given him something for the pain while she was changing because he looked like he was about to fall asleep. It wasn’t long until a purple cast covered the same color bruises up to his elbow and he was snoring softly.

She was glad that he couldn’t feel the doctor reset his bones and that he could sleep pain free.

“What do you think?” Claire asked nervously.

The doctor took off his gloves and tossed them into the trash. “I think once he wakes up, I will have someone from OT and PT come talk with him and come up with a plan. I’m not going to lie, but he’s got a long road to recovery.” He answered with a heavy sigh. “The bite marks were surprisingly clean and I think we can take the stitches out in a couple of days, they are healing really well. Where we repaired the tendons in his shoulder will take longer and once they are out he can start the therapy. He will be in a sling from four to six weeks and if he participates fully with PT, he should have full range of motion in three to six months.”

Claire bit her lip, the healing process was going to take forever. Owen Grady didn’t sit still very well and with the loss of his dominant hand, he was going to go crazy. “It’s going to be a long recovery,” The doctor said, reading her thoughts. “But if he wears his sling and does his exercise then he will get his full range of motion back in his shoulder.”

“What about his wrist?” She asked.

The doctor turned to the computer and typed in a few commands, bringing up an x-ray of his wrist. He pointed to the cracks on the small bones. “It’s just a small compound fracture that will heal with some immobilization, nothing that I’m too worried about. This whole scenario could’ve been a lot worse, but out of the two who were bit yesterday, he fared the worst. The other guy wanted a tetanus shot for the scrapes he got from the Velociraptor.”

Her look darkened and she mentally cursed Hoskins for seeking medical treatment. She knew that she was being ridiculous, but that guy was an asshole. She straightened her back and replaced her game face. “If it makes you feel better, you broke his nose.” He said as he got up, promising to come back later when Owen woke back up.

She smiled. Yes. Yes it made her feel a lot better. 


	3. Chapter 3

It was late in the afternoon when Owen woke up again. He opened his eyes and looked around the room to familiarize himself with the hospital room. He found Claire sitting in the corner working on a laptop with papers surrounding her as she chewed innocently on the back of her pen. 

She looked up and sat the pen she had been unconsciously chewing on down. “Hey.” She said with a smile. “How are you feeling?” He nodded, his mouth too dry to actually speak. Claire pushed the rolling table away from her and got up to grab the standard hospital cup from the counter before helping him drink from it. “Better?”

“Much.” He answered hoarsely.

She ran her fingers through his hair tenderly. “Are you hungry?” She asked and he nodded, still drowsy. “I will go grab you something.”

He nodded again and she disappeared from view. He closed his eyes and used his good hand to rub his eyes. He needed coffee or something to wake up. His right side was heavy, numb and now had a bright purple cast around his wrist. He should’ve asked Claire what day it was, he judged by the sun in the window that it was late in the afternoon.

“Ah hello, Mr. Grady.” Said a nurse who walked into the room.

“Owen.” He said hoarsely.

The small blond nurse looked at him and nodded, blinking her heavily mascaraed eyes. “Of course, Owen. My name is Britney.” Of course it was, he thought to himself. She grabbed the mug and held it for him so that he could drink from it. “I’m going to check your vitals and let the doctor know you’ve woke up.”

He nodded as he drank greedily, praying the Claire would come back soon. Britney wore a thick body spray that smelled like a pina colada and enough hairspray that she probably should carry a flammable sign around with her. 

She placed the cup down on the counter and accidently bumped Claire’s paperwork, knocking a stack to the floor, maybe it was a good thing she wasn’t here because Claire would test out her flammability. Slowly she moved to pick up the stack, clearly trying give him a view of her backside. He rolled his eyes and covered his eyes with his hand, really?

Soon a cuff was wrapped around his arm, her hand traced the muscles his forearm. “I heard that you are a raptor trainer for the park.” She said with a smile, trying to make conversation with him. It rumbled and filled up with air, he didn’t bother look at the screen only focusing on breathing to keep the pressure of his blood low.

“You heard correctly.” He said politely. Dear god, she was going to be one of those who interpreted that as flirting.  Also, where was Claire? His stomach protested loudly.

The nurse recorded the blood pressure and stuck the pulse oximeter onto his finger with a laugh. “It sounds like you missed lunch.” She commented, the machine beeped and again she recorded the information.

“I’m starving.” He commented and he knew that the next words were going to be out of her mouth were.

“I bet I can fix that.” She said, her voice lowering and her fingers dragging up his good arm.

Owen held his hand up in protest. “Seriously?” He asked with a glare. “I’m starving. For food. That my GIRLFRIEND is taking forever to get for me.”

She froze. “I’m sorry, I didn’t. . .” She stumbled awkwardly, she brushed her hair behind her ear and went to the cabinet to grab a new IV bag. “I will just switch this out.”

He leaned back into the pillow. Score one for no means no. The IV line was changed and she disappeared without a word and not a second later, Claire returned with a tray of food. He closed his eyes and groaned.

“What?” Claire asked with a raised brow. She sat the tray on the counter near the sink so she could free up the rolling table.

He shook his head, but she didn’t see it as she bundled up her paperwork and sat it in the chair. “You were gone forever!” He whined and his stomach agreed.

She turned around and raised her brow trying to understand what he was saying. “I had them make this fresh for you.” She said, pushing the table over the bed and turned to grab the tray of food to place it in front of him to realize that he was genuinely in a sour mood. “I wasn’t gone that long. Are you in any pain? Do you want me to call the nurse?”

“No!” He cried out, He pulled the lid off to reveal the most beautiful looking open faced turkey sandwich that he had ever seen in his life. The look on Claire’s face told him that she wasn’t going to drop it. “The nurse was laying it on a little too thick for my liking.”

Her eyebrow shot up in confusion as she tried to interpret him. “She was hitting on you?” She asked and Owen glared at the door where the nurse and her friends were gathered at the station right outside his door. She bit her cheek to hide the smirk that was forming on her face, she nailed it in one go.

“Yes!” He cried out. “I tried to be polite, but really. . . .” He stumbled out his frustration.

Claire leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Do I need to kick her ass?” She whispered, knowing that the nurses at the station were watching her. Owen growled and allowed himself one more kiss, Alpha Claire was too much for him to handle.

He smiled brightly at her. “I don’t need you to fight my battles for me.” He answered as he awkwardly took the fork into his left hand. “But if she comes back, I just might need you to.”

With a kiss to his forehead she sat back down in the chair and watched him attempt to feed himself and having some success. It warmed her heart knowing that he was uncomfortable with girls flirting with him now that they were together.

She pulled her laptop back to her lap to finish responding to her emails and dividing her responsibilities until she was able to return to work, which at this point seemed like weeks of working from home at least once she was off ‘suspension.’

He ate slowly, for hospital food it wasn’t bad. His stomach was empty and so no matter the taste, it was heaven, especially the Jello cup and whip cream. He could probably eat about a dozen of them and still be happy. He ignored the amused looks that Claire occasionally shot in his direction as he ate quietly, the nurse incident in the past.

Claire’s phone rang again and she answered it, but Owen tuned her out as he searched for the television remote. When he found it, he turned it on and muted the sound so that she could talk on the phone. Owen couldn’t remember the last time that he had watched TV as he flipped through the mixture of Spanish and English resort channels.

He scrolled it through a couple of times before settling on Ellen, who had some actor he didn’t recognize as her guest. They were playing some game of sorts, balancing a basket on their heads trying to catch balls in them to win. Seemed amusing enough.

He didn’t realize that Claire had ended her conversation and startled slightly when she spoke. “That was Barry.” She said and his heart rate dropped slightly as he looked at her, waiting for her to continue. She got up and stood next to the bed. “He reported that your girls are fine, he said it looks like Echo had some bruising at her shoulders where she struggled in the harnesses, but it didn’t seem to bother her at all.”

Owen leaned back and smiled. “She’s easily distracted and would rather play then be hurt.” He said with a chuckle. “If I was a hundred percent sure that I could walk by myself, I would tell you to sneak me out of here so I can see for myself . . .”

She shook her head. “Not going to happen, Owen.” She said folding her arms. “You already have enough damage to you shoulder, you don’t need to add more too it. . .”

“Spoil sport.” He groaned, his hand going to his forehead. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”

She ran a hand through his hair and shrugged her shoulders. “It’s not as bad as it could’ve been. The doctor says that you will be in a sling for a while.”

He opened his eyes to look at her. “How long is a while?” He asked.

“Four to six weeks or so to start.” She said softly and he groaned. “And then physical therapy, three to six months of it.”

Another groan escaped his lips. “Christ.” He mumbled as he took her hand into his. “Am I to bet that you are going to make sure that I follow orders?”

“That’s right, Mr. Grady.” She answered. “I want you to get better.”

A fake frown grazed his lips. “Mr. Grady?” He asked, he hated when she called him that. The look on her face was teasing and light, and just what he needed to lift his spirits. She was going to take care of him and make sure that he healed properly. He pulled her down to him so that they were eye level. “What did I do to deserve you?”

He pulled her in for another kiss. “We stick together, for survival. Remember?” She whispered against his lips before accidently knocking the tray that separated. “The doctor says if your stitches heal some more you can come home in a couple of days. That is if you listen to what he says.”

He sighed heavily. “Fine.”

Her smile lit up the room as she turned to grab the computer. “Good, I have a present for you.” She sat it next to his lunch tray and opened the screen to see the camera from the inside the paddock. He forced himself to sit up excitedly and smiled back at her as he watched the very familiar tree line. “Lowery helped me set it up while you were sleeping and Barry called to tell me that he was ready to start training.”

Owen was speechless.

He watched as a grey Blue blob followed by three other blobs ran past the tree line. He looked at the clock in the corner of the screen, it was time for the afternoon training session. The afternoon was when Delta and Echo were the friskiest, the other two preferred the mornings, and dealt more of the abuse than took it. They stopped running right in front of the camera as if they was there to control them. Barry did that on purpose.

The four bickered each other and then stopped. There was no sound, but he could tell that Barry whistled at them by the way they stood at attention. Each one of them were given a frozen rat and they scattered back into the tree line before they gathered deep within the trees before coming back for more.  

His eyes trained onto Echo as Barry stopped them again, though the image wasn’t the clearest, it was good enough to convince himself that she was okay and from the training, it looked as though there wasn’t any digression from the incident with Hoskins.

He looked up at her, emotion filled his eyes as he took her hand into his. “Thank you.” He said sincerely.

She squeezed his hand. “No problem.” She said.

“Stay with me?” He asked innocently and she nodded, crawling into the bed with him and they both watched the raptors training session.

Occasionally Owen would explain something, a technique or a variation that Barry did or what he would do differently and eventually Claire began to doze off, her head resting against his shoulder. Not that he blamed her, she had spent most of the night waiting for him to come out of surgery. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and watched her chest rise and fall a couple of times.

He was in love with her.

It was as simple as that.

They hadn’t been together for too long, at least not long enough in his book to have these sort of feelings, but he couldn’t help it. Maybe it was the drugs. It probably was the drugs talking, but he concluded that she was the one that he could see himself with for the rest of his life.

Hell, she had spent the night in the hospital with him and have yet to be out of earshot of the room. He could hear her talk with the doctor about his course of recovery and had made the commitment to head to make sure that he healed properly.

It had been a long time since someone cared about his wellbeing and it was kind of refreshing.

It was definitely the drugs talking.


End file.
